Vending-machine.



UNITED sTATEs PATENT 'oEEroE' FRANK A. HUSER, OF HAMILTON, OHIO.

- vENDlN-MAOHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

katern-,eu March 13, 1906.

Application filed July 19, 1905. Serial No. 270,325.

ments in check-controlled vending-machines, will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure lis a side elevation of a vendingmachine eXemplifying my invention, the inclosing casing appearing in dotted lines Fig. 2, a vertical section of the same in the plane of line a of Fig. 1 Fig. 3, a front elevation and Fig. 4, a side elevation of the drag-claw arranged for double delivery--that is to say, to deliver two articles atene impulse of the machine.

The improvements relate to a provision of multiple vending devices operated by a sin-f grle motor and designed to .effect delivery om selective magazines. The machine is adapted for the vending of-goods in small packages or in such form as to lend themv selvesto storage in vertical piles in maga-j j 3o, zines subject to the withdrawal of units from the base of the piles.

the vending of packages of gum, candy, or the like has been chosen for eXempliiication. In the drawings, 1 indicates the base of the machine;` 2, an inclosing casing; 3, a vertically-disposed magazine adapted to hold a pile of the articles to be vended 4, inwardlyprojecting sidelips at the base of the magazine, which base is otherwise open, these lips sup orting the pile of goods in the magazine he pile of goods in the magazine, the pile being illustrated in Fig. 3 as being in the right-hand magazine only, while the general description will for the present be limited to the left-hand magazine and its accessori es; 6, a sloping chute leading forwardly from the base of the magazine for guiding the delivered article to its point of final discharge from the casing 7, an opening in the casing to permit the outwardpassage of the delivered article;

y8, a spring-motor of acharacter common in machines Vof this general class; 9, the main shaft of the machine, disposed below the base of the magazine and arranged to be turned bythe motor in the direction of the arrow seen in Fig. 1 10, a drag-disk loose on the Amain shaft immediately below the magazine; 11, a pair of drag-claws projecting radially from the drag-disk and adapted vas the disk turns to' sweep forwardly through the base of the magazine and withdraw therefrom'v the lowermost article therein and deliver the same upon chute 6, the pair. of claws 11 being disposed on opposite sides of the disks and at such distance apart as to cause them to take afairk bearing against the lowermost article in the magazine, the normal idle positi on ofthe claws f 1 1 when the diskha's but a single set of claws being to the rear of the ma azine, as seen in Fig. 1; 12, a clutch-hook fast on the main shaft 9 near the drag-disk; 13, a hooked pawl loosely pivoted to the drag-disk and adapted to engage clutch-hook 12 and cause the main shaft to turn the disk, this hooked pawl `being normally out of engagement with the clutch-hook and held in such idle position by the action of gravity; 14, a tailpiece projecting laterally from the heel of the hooked pawl 15, a coin-chute of ordinary form; 16, entryslot thereinto for the coins; 17, a downward extension 'of the coin-chute, this extension being mounted on a horizontal pivot so as to act as a cut-off, as usual, the lower end of this coin-chute extension being in such position that av coin' in reaching its lower end will env gage tailpiece 14 of the hooked pawl and A machine having magazines suitabley for` rock that pawl into engagement with clutchhook 12, and therebylock the drag-disk to the l main shaft; 18, a shaft turned by the springmotorat comparatively high speed; 19, an arm projecting therefrom 20, a rock-shaft; 21, an arm projecting from this rock-shaft and having a hook normally engaging over arm 19 and preventing the operation of the motor; 22, another arm projecting from rock-shaft 20, its lower end being in such position relative -to the foot of coin-chute 17 that a coin reaching the base of the chute eX- i IOO IIO

tion, at which time the vnotch 24 permits arm c 21 to again stop the motor; 26, an eccentric 29, a notch in the periphery of drag-disk 10 with an inclined or cam-shaped shore presenting in a direction against that ofthe rotation of the drag-disk, and 30 a spring whose free end engages in notch 29 and tends by its in ward movement to advance the drag-disk a certain distance beyond the point at which the spring first enters the notch, the spring also serving upon reaching the foot of the notch to hold the drag-disk in its normal idle position, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

As seen in Fig. 3, there is at the right of the spring-motor a second magazine. This magazine is in all respects similar to the one that has been described and is equipped with precisely similar accessories and has precisely similar association with the motor, the rockshaft 20, and chute rocking rod 27. For the present ignore any consideration of this right-hand magazine and its immediate accessories. The motor is normally. wound up and potent for action and is restrained from motion by the engagement of arm 21 with arm 19. A coin being placed in slot 16 passes through chute 15 and its extension 17 and strikes arm 22, thus unlocking the motor, and strikes tailpiece 14 of hooked awl 13, thus locking the drag-disk to the s aft, the coin then falling to the base of the machine. The motor, having been released, proceeds to rotate the main shaft and the drag-disk, the effect being that drag-claws 11 withdraw the lowermost article from the pile in the magazine and urges it down chute 6, which chute is suitably slotted to ermit the sweeping motion of the drag-c aws. As the main shaft completes its turn arm 24 drops into the notch of time-disk 23 and permits arm 21 to bring the motor to rest in normal idle position. At this time notch 29 in drag-disk 10 has reached the end of spring 30, which starts to enter the notch and, the main shaft having come to rest, the action of the spring upon the inclined wall of the notch turns drag-disk 10 a trifle in advance of the position to which it was propelled by the clutch, the hooked paWl 13 being thus relieved from any strain, drops free of clutch-hook 12, leaving the drag-disk unlocked from the main shaft and held in normal idle position. Immediately upon the starting of the motor, as the result of the presence of a coin, the eccentric 26 rocks the upper end of coin-chute extension 17 rearwardly, thus temporarily closing the general chute against the passage of a second coin, which second coin can only proceed on- Ward through the machine after the main shaft shall have completed its turn.

The description thus far given has applied to the left-hand one of the two magazines.

In the described operation of the motor upon the mechanism pertaining to that magazine nothing has occurred. in connection with the imechanism pertaining to the right-hand magazine, except that its coin-cliute extension was rocked. The idleness of the delivering mechanism of the right-lian d magazine was due to the fact that its drag-disk iemained normally unlocked from the main. shaft. If now a coin were presented to the coin-chute pertaining to the right-hand inagazine instead of the left-hand. one, then in that event the drag-disk of the left-hand magazine would remainnormally unlocked from the main shaft, while the coin would bring about the locking to the main shaft `of the drag-disk pertaining to the riglit-hand magazine, under which circumstances` the delivery of goods would be effected not from the left-hand magazine, but from the righthaiid one. It is thus seen that when the motor is started into motion by the action of a coin that motion will be effected only on the delivery mechanism pertaining to the magazine being immediately dealt with by the presented coin. It is thus seen that while there is but a single motor and while the delivery is of automatic character a selection of goods can be made from a plurality of magazines, two magazines being shown in exempliiication, but the system obviously lending itself to any 'desired number of individual magazines, etc., brought into association with a single motor-shaft on which their drag-disks are normally loose, but capable of being selectively locked.

Goods from either magazine may be gotten by presenting a coin to the coin-chute pertaining to the given magazine, or, if desired, coins may be presented to the chiite of both magazines. ln other words, the system is non-interfering and the individual members may be utilized singly or simultaneously.

With the construction of drag-disk illustrated in Fig. 1 one impulse of tclie machine effects the withdrawal and delivery of a single article, owing to the fact that there is but a single pair of drag-claws on the drag-disk. In short, one turn of the main shaft delivers but one unit of goods from the magazine but if the drag-disk be provided with an additional set of drag-claws, as illustrated in Fig. 4, then one turn of the main shaft will bring about the delivery of two units of goods and simultaneously a drag-disk may be provided with any reasonable number of sets of drag-claws, and the drag-disk pertaining to one magazine may manifestly be arranged to deliver a single unit of goods, While the drag-disk of the other magazine delivers a plurality of units of goods. Thus, for in,- staiice, assume the machine employed for the vending of cigars. One magazine may contain cigars to be vended at the rate of one cigar per coin, while the other magazine may TOO IOS

contain cigars to be vended at two or more cigars per coin. The capacity ofthe individual members in this respect may be4 are illustrated as disks, in fact; but the disk form is merely a preferable one, as the dragclaws which constitute'the withdrawing devices might be viewed as mere radial element mounted on the main shaft.

By the expression drag-disk is therefore meant a member preferably in disk form and mounted loosely on the mainshaft for carrying the drag-claws.

In Fig. 3 the main-shaft line, rock-shaft 20, and chute-tipping rod 27 are shown as extended and broken at the left. This is y, merely toindicate that these members-may 'extend as far as desired to suit additional magazines, with their accessories.

I claim asmy invention- 1. In a vending-machine, the combination, substantially as set forth, with a motor having a main shaft, mechanism normally restraining the motor from motion, and a magazine for supporting a pile of the articles to be vended, of a drag member loose on said main shaft and having claws adapted to sweep the lowermost article from the pile in the magazine, a normally disengaged clutch device serving to lock the drag member temporarily to said shaft, and a coin-chute having its discharge end inposition to deliver a passing coin against a releasing --arm con' nected with the motor-restraining device and l against a member serving to effect the engagement of said clutching device.

2. In a vending-machine, the combination, substantially as set forth, with a motor having -a main shaft, mechanism normally restraining thel motor from motion, and a magazine for supporting a pile of the articles to be vended, of a drag member loose on said main shaft and having claws adapted to sweep the lowermost article from the pile in the magazine, a normally disengaged clutch device serving to lock the drag member temporarily to said shaft, a springacting on the drag memberandv serving to impart to ita motion'of angular advance upon said shaft after the motor comes tovrest, and a coinchute having its discharge end in position to deliver a passing coin' against a releasingarm connected withthe motor-.restraining device and against a member serving to eiect the engagement of said clutching device.

` 3. In'a vending-machine, the combination,

substantially as set forth, witha motor having a main shaft, mechanism normally restraining the motor from motion, and a lurality of magazines for supporting indivi ual piles of the articles to be vended, of a drag member loose on said main shaft below each magazine and having clawsadapted to sweep the lowermost article from the pile in the magazine, a normally disengaged clutch device for each drag member serving to lock the drag member temporarily to said shaft, a releasing-arm connected with the motor-restraining device and a coin-chute for each magazine having its discharge end in position. to deliver a passing coin against the releasing-arm and agalnst a member of thel shaft, a series of drag members loose on said shaft and each provided with drag-claws, individual clutch devices normally disengaged but serving to lock the drag memberstemporarily to the shaft, an individual magazme over each drag member for supporting a pile of the articles vto be vended in posltion to Y have the lowermost article withdrawn by I said drag-claws, a motor-starting arm appropriate to each magazine and adapted, when moved, to release the motor, an arm formin a part of each individual clutching device an serving-When moved to cause the appropriate clutching device to engage, and a coin-chute for each magazine with its discharge end in position to deliver a passing coin against the appropriate motor-starting arm and clutchengaging arm.

5. In a vending-machine, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a motor, a main shaft therefor, a motor restraining device serving, when released, to arrest the motion of the motor at the end of one turn of said shaft, a series of drag members loose on said shaft yand each provided with drag-claws, individual clutch devices normally disengaged but serving to lock the dra members4 temporarily to the shaft, an in ividual magazme over eachdrag member for supporting a pile IOO of the articles to be vended in position to have the lowermost article withdrawn by said drag-claws, a motor-starting arm appropriate l to each ma azine and adapted, when moved,

to release t e motor, a clutch-engaging arm forming a part ofl each individual clutching device and servin when moved to cause the appro riate clutc 'ng device toA engage, a coin-c ute for each vmagazine with its discharge end in position to deliver a passing coinagainst the appropriate motor-starting engagingleach drag member and serving yto give tot e drag member a motion of angular advance after being unclutched from the shaft.

FRANK A. HUSER. Witnesses:

JAMES FrrToN, M. S. BELDEN.

`arm and clutch-engaging arm, and a spring 

